Brussels, 3 February 2025
The EU Commission and the European Union Intellectual Property Office have launched the 2025 SME Fund to provide small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) with financial support to better manage and protect their intangible assets.
The SME Fund is a grant scheme designed to help SMEs protect their intellectual property rights, including patents, trademarks, industrial designs and new plant varieties. Following the success of previous calls, this year’s fund is shaped to reach an even larger number of SMEs. In 2025, SMEs will be able to benefit from grants of up to €1,000 for patent registration costs, €1,500 for the legal costs of drafting and filing European patent applications and up to €750 for trademark or design registration costs.
In 2024, out of the 31,700 SMEs that applied for the SME Fund, over 23,500 were supported financially to protect their intellectual property and become more attractive for investment. Moreover, for 76% of the SMEs supported by the SME fund, this was the first time they had protected their intellectual property. This proves that protecting IPR is essential to increase the value of a company, become more attractive for investments and gaining a solid base for future growth.
Interested SMEs can apply for the SME fund here.